Nocturne
by Rose Thorne
Summary: When Marinette returns to school later than Adrien after the Kwamibuster debacle, Adrien's overactive imagination supplies a possible reason in a dream. Cracky.
1. Adrien Agreste

**Nocturne**

by Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Don't own _Miraculous Ladybug_ or make any money writing fanfiction.

Adrien had been surprised that Marinette hadn't yet gotten back to class when he managed to. She and Ladybug had left before himself and Mme. Mendeleiev—and he knew Ladybug would be faster with Marinette than he managed to be with his teacher. For one thing, Marinette was lighter. For another, Ladybug generally beat him in their races, and not because he let her. Most of the time.

She'd shown up a half an hour after him, out of breath and looking frazzled, and she'd seemed out of it the rest of the day. She seemed lost in thought, and sometimes he caught a dreamy little smile when he glanced back at her.

There was no way to ask as Adrien, who would have no excuse for knowing she'd been Multimouse and saved the day. When he went by her balcony later as Chat Noir, the trapdoor was closed and her lights were out. He wasn't completely surprised—being a hero was exhausting work, and it was her first time. But she'd looked fine when he'd left the studio rooftop.

Patrol was boring without his lady, and even more so without the ability to chat with his Princess. Even with foiling a mugging near the burnt-out Notre Dame and escorting the starry-eyed tourist to his hotel, where he consented to a selfie. The tourist smelled heavily of wine, and it had been a relief to consider patrol complete.

Slipping between his sheets to get some sleep had been even more of a relief. It had simply been a long day, one that had nearly seen a victory by Hawkmoth—and led to the revelation that he could lose his miraculous if he or Ladybug knew the other's identity.

His last thought before succumbing to sleep was how unfair that was.

* * *

Chat landed on Marinette's rooftop balcony, hoping for some end-of-day pastries. The trapdoor was open, inviting, and he popped down.

Only to freeze at the sight that greeted him.

Ladybug was in Marinette's lap, the two staring at him wide-eyed, with bruised and swollen lips. Ladybug had a smear of pink lip gloss across part of her cheek. Marinette had a hickie just above the collar of her shirt. Ladybug had her hand up Marinette's shirt, giving him a flash of pale skin, the bottom edge of a bra, and her belly button.

Chat was frozen, torn between horror and arousal; two girls he rather liked… but together, not with him.

"Um…" Marinette glanced at Ladybug. She looked shy, caught out, the flush of her skin from their activities making her even more adorable than usual. "I guess the _cat_'s out of the bag?"

Ladybug looked irritated. "Really, _Chatton_, you jump into a lady's room without looking?"

"I, uh…" He couldn't seem to find words.

"It's my fault," Marinette said, blushing. "He warned me about feeding strays."

"It's not even his night for patrol," Ladybug huffed. "I thought we'd have some time to ourselves."

Chat's ability to move and form words hadn't returned. And it didn't help that he was finding this sight really, really arousing. And he wasn't sure his suit hid it at all.

Apparently, from the way the girls' expressions shifted to irritation, it didn't.

"I didn't mean for you to find out like this, _mon minou_. But there's nothing for it." Ladybug sighed. "Lucky Charm!"

A large squirt bottle, the kind one would use for chastising a misbehaving cat dropped into her hands. She stood, advancing on him with it at the ready.

"Bad kitty!"

* * *

The sense of wet had Adrien shooting to full awareness, sitting in his bed, confused. It took almost a minute to realize what had happened. And the realization was absolutely mortifying.

He needed to change.

The vision of Ladybug and Marinette caught making out danced in his mind again.

Okay, he needed a shower, too.

A very cold shower.

Plagg wandered into the bathroom as he was getting in. "You take too many showers, you know."

Adrien didn't answer, too mortified.

The kwami suddenly giggled. "Oh, you had one of _those_ dreams. Ladybug again? Or have you started dreaming about Pigtails yet?"

He glared at the cat-god, not deigning to respond verbally.

Plagg alit on the sink counter. "Or both this time?"

Adrien could feel his cheeks reddening—even more when Plagg started cackling.

He turned on the shower and winced as the cold stream of water hit him, immediately solving the problem he'd been having. The dream still had him on edge, the unexpectedness of it. But he could also see _why_. Marinette and Ladybug had seemed more comfortable together on the studio rooftop than Ladybug was with any of their other temporary holders. Marinette hadn't hesitated to hold Ladybug tightly so she could be returned to class.

And then Marinette had taken longer than expected…

Had Ladybug ever said if her crush was a boy or a girl? He couldn't remember. And he didn't know how Marinette identified.

Adrien glanced at Plagg, who was still chortling. "Do you think Marinette and Ladybug are…"

Plagg went quiet and levitated to move closer to the shower, watching him seriously.

"I mean, do you think they're… you know, _together_?"

The kwami dissolved into laughter, shaking so hard he couldn't stay in the air and instead fell back on the counter, rolling on the porcelain surface helplessly.

"It's not funny!"

"The hell it isn't!" Plagg managed, before losing it again. "Oh, it's gonna be fun to tell Sugarcube _that_ one."

"It's really not!" Adrien turned off the water and glanced at the clock. "I have to be in class in four hours—how am I even going to _look_ at Marinette?"

Plagg attempted seriousness again. "So, did you prefer Ladybug or Pigtails? Or were you just watching?"

"PLAGG!"

He had to turn the water back on, grimacing. Today was going to suck.

As far as I know, no one had come up with this zany-ass idea yet. Anyone else wanna take a stab? I dare you!


	2. Hawk Moth

**Nocturne**

by Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Don't own _Miraculous Ladybug_ or make any money writing fanfiction.

* * *

_Chapter Two_

In his less angry moments, Gabriel Agreste could admit to himself that Ladybug's focus, creativity, and drive were admirable. He didn't have many of those, and they were fleeting as he remembered she was preventing the healing of Emilie, the reunification of his family, so long overdue.

The stress of maintaining the fight for the Miraculous, his company, and the failing health of Nathalie due to the use of the Peacock had resulted in a diagnosis of high blood pressure by his doctor recently, though. He had been ordered to take a leave of absence from Gabriel; he was torn on this. On the one hand, it gave him more time to plan. On the other, he had created the world-renowned fashion company from the ground up, and he didn't trust that anyone else's vision would meet his expectations.

Except Emilie.

Everything came back to Emilie.

His doctor had ordered him to take melatonin and drink a tea meant to encourage sleep before bed. Gabriel wasn't a fan of tea, but he had to admit the scent of chamomile and lavender was soothing.

These changes were an effort to keep him off blood pressure medication; the doctor's logic was that if the situation changed, if his stress level went down, the medication would be unnecessary. Why deal with side effects if the problem could be treated naturally?

As a result of the lowered stress level, Gabriel had recently found himself less angry more often. It reminded him of life before the Miraculous, before the Peacock had sent Emilie into a coma.

He found himself admiring Ladybug more often. She was clearly a mere teenager, fighting often by the skin of her teeth. But she nonetheless found a way to prevail.

She was the kind of person he'd offer an internship in some capacity, solely to see how she would improve his company.

Gabriel sipped his nighttime tea, seated in a comfortable chair in his chambers, letting his mind wander.

In some ways… she reminded him of Emilie.

The idea immediately irritated him, and he drank the remaining tea with an undignified gulp before slipping into bed.

The irritation only faded slowly.

* * *

Hawkmoth had again had his latest Akuma defeated—though it had required the use of multiple Miraculous. Even Multimouse, Ryuko, and Queen Bee. He knew it would have been successful if Mayura had been able to add her power to his own.

"So this is your lair."

The voice behind him was familiar, and he turned to find Ladybug, her hand on her hip. Why hadn't Nathalie alerted him? He'd heard nothing!

Before he could act, she lashed out with her yoyo, binding his arms to his sides. Queen Bee stepped out from behind him and used Venom, rendering him completely paralyzed. He fell to the floor, seething. Multimouse used her jump rope to hogtie him, smiling the whole time. Diminutive Ryuko perched on a railing, and Rena Rouge giggled, likely at the sight of him.

Oh, he raged.

Ladybug kept him bound despite the Venom, leaving no avenue for escape.

When she advanced, he steeled himself for the inevitable reveal, the damage it would do to… to Adrien. That he regretted.

Instead, she stepped on him, putting her weight on his back with one foot.

"You've been a bad boy, Hawkmoth." Her inflection was… sultry?

Behind her, the other heroes giggled.

He stared at her, eyes wide. What the hell was going on?

"We should see what your punishment will be, hmm?"

This wasn't happening. He rejected it. Surely this wasn't real!

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted. A cat o' nine tails, red with black spots, dropped into her hand.

Worse, she was now wearing thigh-high dominatrix boots with stiletto heels, one of which was digging into his back, spotted garters leading to a ladybug corset tastefully bordered with black lace. The other girls were suddenly similarly dressed.

No, no, no, no. He averted his eyes.

She leaned down, giving him a much unwanted and unavoidable view of her cleavage.

"Of course, you might enjoy it. You are a predator, after all. Preying on emotions. It's only a short jump to preying on nubile young girls, isn't it?"

He wasn't like that—he would _never_!

And yet, he couldn't deny he was a predator, and it made him sick.

Ladybug straightened, flicking the cat o' nine tails and glancing back at the other heroes.

"I've had to deal with him the most, so I'm first. Queen Bee, you've had the most people in your life Akumatized, like he's been preying on you specifically, so you're next. Then Rena, Ryuko, and Multimouse."

She looked down at him again. "And _then_ we'll take your Miraculous and leave you and Mayura all trussed up at the police station."

The pommel of the whip smacked against her palm a couple times before she raised it over him. "But for now, you've been a very bad boy…"

He could only watch as the tails lashed at him.

Gabriel woke up with a gasp, covered in sweat and panting. He scrambled out of bed into the suite bathroom to be violently ill.

It was the tea. Had to be the tea. A bad batch, or something. Or maybe he couldn't handle the melatonin. Either way, he wasn't going to risk having either anymore.

As he knelt on the tile, gasping, he missed a certain kwami peeking over the side of the bed with a tiny smirk.

Killing a holder directly, chosen or not, was forbidden. But there were no commandments preventing Nooroo from pushing him toward it naturally. If Gabriel Agreste had a stress-induced fatal heart attack, no one would be surprised.

And he would almost certainly tell no one about these sorts of dreams.

* * *

Yeah, I have a bad brain. Very bad. Squick ew. I'm so going to hell.


End file.
